Lust, CautionSpying and sex in Ang Lee’s latest genre-hop

PlotThe year is 1942 in occupied Shanghai, and a society woman walks into a café and makes a phone call. In flashback, we discover that she is Wong Chia Chi (Tang), a drama student turned spy on a secret mission to facilitate the assassination of Mr Yee (Leung), a hated collaborator.

VerdictA beautifully rendered, long, drawn-out but ultimately very satisfying story of betrayal and revenge in an uneasy setting of wartime paranoia.